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Nine City Challenges happened in China this past week, and the results point at two dominant legends so far in this new set: SFD-185 and OGN-247.
Across the nine tournaments, these two are the most represented legends in Top 4 cuts, with 15 appearances for Draven, and 9 for Kais'sa. That means these two combined for more than half of the total 36 players who made it to a City Challenge semifinal for this first week of competitive play.Obviously, they also took most of the wins, with Draven taking down six events while Kai'sa won two. The only City Challenge won by another legend was in Guangzhou, where a Viktor running its Chosen Champion and 39 spells took the crown.
Each are some stats for those interested in the other legends best performance:
| Best Result | Legend | City Challenge |
| Finals | SFD-199 OGN-269 | Shenzhen Hangzhou |
| Top 4 | OGS-017 OGN-253 SFD-195 OGS-021 SFD-183 OGN-267 | Jinan / Shenyang Shenyang Suzhou / Shenzen / Tianjin Guangzhou Chengdu Hangzhou |
| Top 8 | OGS-019 SFD-197 SFD-187 SFD-181 SFD-205 OGN-259 | Jinan / Shenyang / Suzhou / Hangzhou / Tianjin Suzhou Suzhou / Shenzhen Shanghai Chengdu Chengdu |
| Top 16 | OGN-255 OGN-261 | Guangzhou Shenyang |
You guessed it, 11 legends failed to make it into a City Challenge top cut during this first week. If you want to check all the deck lists, you can find them here.
These are only the first competitive events in Spiritforged, but we can't ignore a legend winning 6 out of 9 tournaments while also representing almost half of all top 4 spots. There is no doubt Draven will either be targeted in most side decks in the near future, or convince even more players to play him.
In this article, I want to dig deep into the six SFD-185 winning decks, and look at what these players have agreed upon so far. How many staples are already decided? Is everyone playing the same Chosen Champion? Is everyone building for a similar play style? ...
Let's have a look at the winning decks, and see if we can learn a thing or two about this early metagame force Draven seems to be.
All 9 Winning decks
Play Style, Chosen Champion and Signature Spell
Every SFD-185 was built rather similarly from a play style standpoint. The runes spread was either 6 runes of each domain or 7 Fury plus 5 Chaos. The units' cost ranged from 2 to 6, while spells and equipment cards were mostly the cheaper ones, topping at 2 except for the occasional SFD-139 or OGN-024.
Clearly, everyone believes Draven should be played with a proactive mindset, looking to conquer early on, and make sure we control initiative in that early stage.
In that context, SFD-020 saw much more play than SFD-148, the 6-cost acting as the chosen champion only once, while being played in another deck as the top end unit alongside SFD-021.
While the more expensive Champion Unit has the ability to accelerate the clock and win the game on the back of an extra score, the 4-cost is instrumental to pay for the many power costs SFD-185 is using. Indeed, most decks were using a good amount of support cards with a power cost attached, while OGN-039, OGN-027, or SFD-021 also have one attached.
There is nothing to debate about SFD-186, as three copies of the signature spell was included in every list. This is likely to become the OGN-270 of the second set.
Battlefields
OGN-289 is the clear go-to battlefield for Draven with every player running that one. OGN-285 and SFD-220 were also popular picks.
Overall, these three cover the play style Draven wants to enforce. A conqueror's mentality, backed up by powerful cards with power costs attached. Half the winning decks were using that specific trio of battlefields.
Two players were using SFD-214, which makes sense alongside a Chaos legend able to use cheap spells to steal a hold at times, while also aimed at generating SFD-T03. This could turn out to be a good pick instead of OGN-285 against other conqueror's deck,
Staple Inclusions
Units
In all six decks, OGN-039 and OGN-027 took at least five slots in the list, proving these two will once again be a force for Fury decks in the Riftbound metagame. With SFD-020 a new option as a 4-cost, alongside a legend able to draw with its ability, it is interesting to see most players decided to keep OGN-039 in the deck.
That trio was typically joined by SFD-021, acting as the top-end card for the deck.
Another group of units we have to discuss are SFD-130, SFD-128 and OGN-199, also very popular inclusions. Among the six winning decks, most players were using eight to nine 2-cost cards, with these three often in those slots.
One players used OGN-013 instead of OGN-199, in what could be considered the most proactive build on our list. Indeed, that deck also used two copies of SFD-022 and SFD-139. The intent likely was to stick a unit early on in the board and buff it, something OGN-013 is excellent at thanks to its Deflect keyword.
Spells and Gears
There was a good amount of support cards with a power cost attached. In most decks, OGN-172 was used two to three times, while the two players who only ran one copy had three OGN-029 in the list.
Clearly, SFD-130 and SFD-020 are impacting these choices, as their ability to create SFD-T03 alleviates those power costs that would otherwise set you back tempo wise.
To these cards, we also add the signature gear SFD-186 the deck looks to play early on to dominate showdowns. Last, OGN-173 was another very popular inclusion and additional testimony of Draven being a conqueror type of deck.
Two more spells could also be considered staples : OGN-168 and SFD-136, representing the more disruptive side of the deck. These are two spells the opponent is forced to keep in mind whenever 2 runes are available. Indeed, countering a key spell or sending a unit back to base can be game-ending in some situations.
These two are particularly important with OGN-289 being a staple battlefield. Not only we ready the perfect amount of runes at the end of the turn, these spells allow denying our opponent to conquer and get their runes ready.
Flexible Inclusions
Units
SFD-146 was included in half the winning Draven decks, with a different amount each time. The player with three copies was the one also running OGN-013, in a list intended to force the opponent into answering annoying units one after another.
I already mentioned how SFD-185 is looking to mitigate power costs with SFD-130 and SFD-020. Well, SFD-146 works very well in that strategy.
The card requires us to recycle a rune when played. It isn't so bad as this is one of the deck's most expensive cards, meaning we should play it at a time when keeping all our runes isn't as important. However, if we manage to keep SFD-146 alive, we get a discount on our future spells, which will more than make up for that previous investment.
While I don't like the card on its own, I feel like it can shine in a deck built to grab initiative early on, combined with plenty of units the opponent has to remove quickly. In that mix, SFD-146 is another problem the opponent needs to take care of, and another opportunity for us to cheat resources.
OGN-027 proved its worth and likely will remain a staple in any Fury deck. However, with no 7 or 8-cost units, Draven can afford to run multiple midrange units to solidify that portion of its development.
The other units included in multiple lists were OGN-013 and OGN-012, both included in one main and one side deck. These were were staple inclusions in the Origins metagame, and make a lot of sense for Draven, which seems to play similarly to Kai'sa or Annie. Depending on your opponent, the raw power of these two could be more valuable than the potential of some other, easier to remove cards.
Spells and Gears
There were many more differences in this part of the deck compared to the units, although most decks were built with the same idea in mind.
Overall, we can break down spells and gear to three types of utility :
Buffing our units, with SFD-022, SFD-003 and OGN-004 competing to be alongside SFD-186.
This one if the most unclear, as SFD-022 and OGN-004 were in three decks, while SFD-003 in two plus a side.
SFD-022 is fantastic, and more flexible, when going first with OGN-289 in play and SFD-130 on turn one, as the card is basically free after we conquered on turn two.
However, the spells are a bit easier to use during our own turn, as they require fewer runes, but we don't get to keep them on the board after using them.
Dealing with opposing units, which was typically done through OGN-168 or OGN-172. However, OGN-029 remains a stellar tempo tool if we can afford the power cost, while SFD-145 is a nice 1-off to catch your opponent off-guard.
All three players using OGN-029 or SFD-145 were not running SFD-022, so the key is to find a balance among the power-cost cards.
Other types of support, such as SFD-011 or OGN-183 were common but don't feel that important overall. Instead, these cards will be perfect to fill the last slots once we have found the right balance. If we have a cohesive build with 40 cards, those can be removed, or sided for match-ups were finding certain cards is key.
Will Draven be a metagame tyrant ?
It would be easy to call SFD-185 the next OGN-247, especially as the Glorious Executioner plays similarly to the Daughter of the Void. Both look to cheat power costs and use powerful midrange Fury Units as the backbone of their strategy. However, I feel like it is way too early for any legend to deserve that "problematic legend" moniker.
First, Draven wasn't a difficult legend to figure out. Annie and Kai'sa showed how to build around the Fury domains in Origins, while the ability to draw when winning a combat is another huge tip as to how that deck should be conceived. With that in mind, it is only logical to see this particular legend do extremely well early on.
Then, I believe building a counter deck for Draven will be easier than it is for Kai'sa, as the legend ability isn't the core of the gameplan. Indeed, if we manage to remove SFD-020 and SFD-130 before they manage to create some SFD-T03, Draven won't be able to develop like OGN-247 or OGS-017 could.
As such, I consider SFD-185 a great legend, likely one that will remain competitive for the entire duration of Spiritforged. However, I also anticipate side-decks to adapt in the near future, and make it much harder for Draven to cheat power-costs, which will inevitably limit its development on the board or ability to play support cards.
